The first of two people charged with torching a mountaintop lodge at Vail ski area and numerous other acts of eco-sabotage was sentenced Wednesday in Oregon to 13 years in prison.

Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff, 29, pleaded guilty in federal court to 62 counts and faced up to 15 years and eight months in prison for his role in the 1998 fires that destroyed Two Elk Lodge and several other buildings at the ski resort as well as 20 other criminal acts throughout the West.

He was known as a "technician" who created simple but effective incendiary devices in an attempt to gain the love of another member of the eco-terror ring known as "the Family."

"I also wanted to be part of the scene, to be accepted," Meyerhoff said in a court filing requesting leniency. "And to be accepted as man enough for Chelsea Gerlach, who always treated me as though I was not made of the mettle demanded of a true 'Eco-Warrior."'

Gerlach and the group's leader, William Rodgers, were the main participants in the Vail arsons and the other attacks to protest what they saw as environmental destruction, according to federal prosecutors. Gerlach, 29, also pleaded guilty in the attacks, which occurred between 1995 and 2001 and involved a dozen different conspirators. She is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Rodgers committed suicide in a Tucson jail cell shortly after his 2005 arrest.

Meyerhoff, who says he has "spent virtually every day being harassed, intimidated, threatened or assaulted" because of his role as a snitch, faced the stiffest sentence.

Advertisement

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall said Meyerhoff had become a "leader, organizer and strategist" of the cell and that he had committed "offenses that were clearly calculated to influence the conduct of government by intimidation."

Meyerhoff said that he joined the Family - which held secret meetings and communicated through messages left in the "drafts" folder of a shared e-mail account - to further his relationship with Gerlach.

In his leniency request, Meyerhoff said he has repudiated the ways of the group, which often claimed its actions were the work of the Earth Liberation Front.

"I know that I put myself here by my own actions, and my past conduct merits serving time," he wrote.

Rockies are on pace to lose 93 games this seasonThe Rockies lost three of four in St. Louis and are on pace to lose 93 games as they come home for a three-game series with Seattle before going back on the road again to face Washington.